Manufacture of blanks such as are used in the manufacture of forks, spoons, handles, and similar articles.



A. WILZIN MANUFACTURE OF BLANKS SUCH AS ARE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE 0]?FORKS, SPOONS, HAND AND SIMILAR ARTICLES.

APP 0 TION FILED APR. 26, 1911.

Patented 26, 1914.

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MANUFACTURE OF BLANKS SUCH AS ARE US N THE MA v GTURE OF FORKS, SPOONS,HANDLES, AND SIMILAR ARTIGL APPLIOATION FILED APR. 25, 19.11.

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1mm W ZW EINTTEE STATES PATENT @FFEQE.

ARTHUR WILZIN, OF ST.-OUEN, FRANCE.

MANUFACTURE OF BLANKS SUCH AS ARE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FORKS,

SPOONS, HANDLES, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR \VILZIN, of 100Boulevard Victor Hugo, St.-Ouen, Seine, Republic of France, engineer,have invented improvements in the manufacture of blanks such as are usedin the manufacture of forks, spoons, handles, and similar articles, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of my present invention is to obviate entirely or nearly so,the punching and trimming scrap which amounts to from 25 to in themanufacture of flatware blanks according to the processes practisedhitherto.

According to my present invention, I first form in any suitable manner(as by punching from sheet metal or cutting off from bars or s rips)preliminary pieces of uni form thickness and preferably each of a weightwhich is substantially equal to that of one of the finished gradedblanks; such preliminary piece is then confined between organs pressingunyieldingly against its flat sides so as to prevent its thickness fromincreasing, and while so held the preliminary I piece is subjected toedgewise pressure. The

edge-pressing tools are adapted to so alter the length and outline ofthe preliminary piece as to permit of obtaining, with little or notrimming, from'the intermediate blank thus produced, the finished gradedblank of the desired contour, by crushing out sidewise or lengthwisebetween suitably shaped pressure organs.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the application of my invention toblanks of the form most frequently required in flatware manufacture.

Figure 1 illustrates in full lines an intermediate blank formed inmaking forks ac cording to my invention, and in dotted lines thepreliminary piece from which such blank is produced; Fig. 2 is a centrallongitudinal section of such blank; Fig. 3 is a face view of the gradedblank obtained from the intermediate blank shown in Figs. 1 and 2; Fig.4 is a central longitudinal section of said graded blank; Fig. 5illustrates an other way of making preliminary pieces for the purpose ofmy invention; Figs. 6 and 7 are sectional views showing how thepreliminary piece shown in Fig. 5 is transformed by edgewise pressureinto an inter- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 25, 1911.

Patented May 26, 1914. Serial No. 623,292.

mediate blank of the shape shown in Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 8 is a crosssection on line XX of Fig. 6; Fig. 9 is a sectional view showing howedgewise pressure may be employed to produce an intermediate spoon blankfrom punched preliminary pieces of the shape shown in Fig. 10.

The preliminary piece, as indicated at 0 in Fig. -1, may be arectangular strip of metal of uniform thickness obtained by cutting froma bar, or in any other suitable way. Obviously, such pieces can be pro--duced without any scrap. The preliminary piece may be made of otherforms, for iristance (in the case of forks), preliminary pieces of theshape shown in Fig. 5 at e, 6 6 ,0 6 may be employed, such pieces beingstamped or punched in the well-known interlocking manner from sheetstock of uniform thickness, in which there is no scrap except the endpieces designated in Fig. 5 by e and 6 In any event, the preliminarypiece, whatever its shape, should be of a weight substantially equal tothat of the finished graded blank (such as the one shown in Figs. 3 andl), and preferably the preliminary pieces should be of a uniformthickness at the time they aresubjected to edgewise pressure in themanner to be set forth presently.

While preliminary pieces of the shape shown in F ig, 5 are not new, theyhave heretofore been made considerably larger and heavier than thoseemployed by me, since the usual methods involve considerable trimming,in view of which it is customary to make the preliminary pieces from 25%to 55% heavier than the finished graded blank.

The preliminary piece of the character above set forth is placed betweenlateral pressure or holding organs engaging the flat sides of thepreliminary piece so as to confine it unyieldingly and maintain itsoriginal thickness, while the edge -shaping punches or organs alter itslength and contour. As an example, Figs. 6, 7 and 8 show how apreliminary piece of the shape represented in Fig. 5, is transformed byedge pressure into an intermediate blank of the shape illustrated inFigs. 1 and 2. The lateral pressure or holding organs referred to aboveare designated by the letters g, g, and the edge shaping punches ororgans, as it, it. One of these punches is movable toward the other, ina direction perpendicular to the length of the blank, or both punchesmay be so movable, to exert the desired edgewise pressure, whichlengthens the preliminary piece and at the same time narrows it more orless, according to the shape of the punches or jaws h, h. The thicknessof the preliminary piece is however maintained, since the lateralholding organs g, g prevent the metal from spreading sidewise. Fig. 6shows the original form of the preliminary piece in dotted lines, and infull lines the result of subjecting the bowl or tine portion of saidpiece to edgewise pressure, producing a blank 6. The opposite or handleend of this blank 6 is then subjected to a similar operation in anapparatus of the same character having jaws or punches if, k of propershape (Fig. 7) to produce an intermediate blank (Z of the shape alsoshown in Figs. 1 and 2. Instead of working successively on opposite endsof the preliminary piece, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 I may producethe same result in one operation, by employing punches or jaws ofsuitable form.

The rectangular piece 0 of Fig. 1 is converted into an intermediateblank (Z of the character shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 7, by means of theapparatus shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, or an apparatus working on the sameprinciple of exerting edgewise pressure on the preliminary piece whileconfining or holding it against lateral or thickening expansion. Withoutunyielding lateral confining organs it would be difiicult andpractically impossible to control the lengthening of the pieces and thealteration of their cross section areas in a manner sufficiently uniformand reliable for the purpose of my invention which calls for veryaccurate and uniform distribution of the metal in order to obtain thefull measure of its advantages.

It will be understood that the size and shape of the preliminary pieces,of the in-. termediate blanks, and of the edge-pressing jaws or organswill vary according to the size and nature of the article to beproduced. In some cases, as in making spoons from punched preliminarypieces such as shown at f, f F, f in Fig. 10, it may be desirable tohave the edge-shaping action, instead of entirely at right angles to thelongitudinal axis of the blank, in part parallel to this axis, so as toproperly enlarge the bowl end and suitably shorten the blank. For thispurpose I may employ the apparatus shown in Fig. 9, which comprisestransversely movable punches or jaws 7?, 7L5 and a longitudinallymovable jaw or punch h, exerting pressure on the blank M in thedirections indicated by arrows. Of course, the apparatus also compriseslateral pressure or holding organs of the same character and function asthose shown at g, g in Fig. 8.

If desired, by making the lateral pressure or holding organs withhollows or recesses, as indicated for one of them at g in Fig. 8, I mayeffect accumulations of metal at predetermined points of the blanks soas to facilitate the subsequent stamping of high relief ornaments. Inthis case, the accumulation is produced in a very simple and economicalmanner, without adding any step to the operation, since the edgepressure tends to fill the hollow or recess 9 before causing an axialmovement of the metal. It will further be understood that my process ofcontour shaping by edge pressure under lateral limitation may be appliedto several ieces or blanks at a time, and also to blanks intended forother articles than forks and spoons.

The profiled intermediate blanks produced according to my invention. asdescribed above, are then converted into finished articles by pressurebetween suitably graded tools. For instance, the intermediate blank (Zof Figs. 1, 2 and 7 may be crushed out sidewise between graded tools ofwell-known character to produce the finished graded blank d shown inFigs. 3 and 4:. The profiled intermediate blank (Z is of practically thesame weight as the graded blank d, and of substantially the same length,but narrower in surface, said profiled intermediate blank presenting atdifferent points of its length cross sections substantially equal inarea to the cross sections at corresponding points of the graded blank0? as required for the final design stamping.

I claim:

The process of obtaining intermediate blanks for flatware manufacturing,which consists in taking a preliminary blank of a weight equal to thatof the final graded blank, then introducing this preliminary blankbetween two confining blocks adapted to be held rigidly at a distancefrom each other which corresponds to the thickness of said preliminaryblank, then while the blank is thus rigidly confined on its fiat sides,exerting over substantially its entire length an edgewise profilingpressure adapted to lengthen the preliminary blank and to alter itscontour.

The foregoing specification of my improvements in the manufacture ofblanks such as are used in the manufacture of forks, spoons, handles andsimilar articles signed by me this 13th day of April, 1911.

ARTHUR WILZIN.

Witnesses:

DEAN B. MASON, B. Tnnuor,

Copies of this patent may be obtained forfive cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

